U.S. stock futures weighed by Greece worries

PNC Financial buying RBC’s U.S. retail unit

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock futures were pointing to a lower Monday open for Wall Street but were off their lowas with markets expected to track losses in Europe after a weekend meeting of euro-area finance ministers failed to wipe out fears of a default for Greece.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average index fell 43 points to 11,896, while those for the Nasdaq 100 shed about 8 points to 2,182. Futures for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 4.7 points to 1,261.

Sentiment for Wall Street was overshadowed by losses for European stock markets, weighed after European Union finance ministers, in a meeting on Sunday, delayed the final decision on releasing the next $16.8 billion tranche of a $155 billion aid package until Greece has implemented further austerity measures.

Many market observers were hoping the tranche, key to preventing debt default in Greece, would be immediately released over the weekend. In addition, discussions for a second bailout package were pushed into July.

“The market is heavily focused on Greece at the moment and I think Wall Street is just trading off the back of Europe,” said Simon Furlong, sales trader at Spreadex. “Greece is top of the agenda and is pretty much the pinnacle point for Europe.”

On Friday, Moody’s Investors Service also warned of a potential downgrade for the credit rating of Italy, “creating yet more uncertainty for Europe and the euro,” Furlong said. In Italy, banking stocks were trading sharply lower.

“A Greece default would have very wide implications, especially for the banks, which is why over in the U.S., markets are set to open lower,” said Furlong.

U.S. stocks took hits last week over Greece, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA, +0.08%
and the S&P 500 index
SPX, +0.04%
managed to break six-week losing streaks. The Dow industrials rose 0.4% to close the week at 12,004, while the S&P 500 broke even at 1,271. The Nasdaq Composite index
COMP, -0.23%
shed 1% to mark its fifth straight losing week.

There are no economic or corporate events on the calendar for Monday.

Nabors Industries Ltd.
NBR, +0.00%
said it expects a shortfall in second quarter and 2011 operating income, owing to lower-than-expected business results from its pressure-pumping and international units.

Shares of PNC Financial Services Group
PNC, -0.49%
could be active after saying it will buy the U.S. retail banking arm of Royal Bank of Canada
RY, -0.77%
(RY) for $3.45 billion. PNC said it has the option to pay up to $1 billion via common stock and the deal would boost earnings by 2013 or sooner, depending on how much of the deal’s consideration, if any,, is paid in stock.

Shares of Ford Motor Co.
F, -1.39%
could be active after The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the company is spending $1 billion to develop seven all-new or upgraded autos for its Lincoln brand that will roll out in the next four years. The Journal cited dealers who had been briefed by the company.

Shares of Molycorp Inc.
MCP, +1.66%
rose 5.3% to $51.5 in pre-market trading on Monday. The move came after Piper Jaffray analysts upgraded Molycorp’s stock to overweight from neutral. The rare earths company’s 40% stock pullback since May creates an attractive entry point and discounts the risk that rare earths prices will fall steeply, said the analysts.

Acura Pharmaceuticals
ACUR, +14.90%
rose 67% in preopen trade on Monday.. Early Monday the company said the U.S. FDA had approved a pain treatment owned by Acura and Pfizer Inc.
PFE, +1.54%

Also Monday, commodity prices drifted lower as the dollar rose on Greece uncertainty. The dollar tends to move inversely to dollar-denominated commodities.

The dollar index
DXY, +0.52%
which measures the performance of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, rose 0.4% to 75.301.

Crude-oil futures for July delivery fell $1.23 to $91.78 a barrel, while gold futures for August delivery lost $1.70 to $1,537.60 an ounce.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index (SXXP) dropped 0.8% to 264.96, with banks and insurers down sharply across the board on worries over Greece.

Asia stocks mostly fell on Monday, as Hong Kong and Shanghai shares were weighed by renewed worries over Chinese economic growth and potentially more moves to cool housing prices.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use. Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. All quotes are in local exchange time. Real-time last sale data for U.S. stock quotes reflect trades reported through Nasdaq only. Intraday data delayed at least 15 minutes or per exchange requirements.